The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Worship

We sang this one in church Saturday night: youtube.com/watch?v=-08YZF87OBQ

Hillsong - Mighty to Save - With Subtitles/Lyrics - Mighty to Save DVD

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that’s never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King…Jesus (x2)

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

My Saviour, you can move the mountains,
You are mighty to save,
You are mighty to save.
Forever, Author of Salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Yes you conquered the grave

Funny you said that. I remember the first time I heard it and wanted to scream " Do you hear what its saying?"

Nimblewill, I was trying to remember the songs when I said that and couldn’t think of specific ones. I’ll have to pay more attention. Maybe my dad remembers. He’s so funny because when we sing them we glance over at each other as if to say, “Did you catch that?!” I remember some lyrics saying all will come and of course that every knee will bow. There is one in particular that is very universalistic.I’m going to see if I can figure out what it’s called.

Unfortunately, the downside of a house church is that we don’t get to sing very often, mainly only at combined services. Anyway, I’ll have to write them down next time so I remember :slight_smile:

Here’s another (is this the one you were thinking of Amy?): youtube.com/watch?v=EIIAf2lS_Us

Mark Schultz - Love Has come

Well, I know this life is filled with sorrow
And there are days when the pain just lasts and lasts
But I know there will come a day
When all our tears are washed away with a break in the clouds
His glory coming down and in that moment

Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
That God is love and love has come for us all
Every heart set free, every one will see
That God is love and love has come for us all

For anybody who has ever lost a loved one
And you feel like you had to let go too soon
I know it hurts to say goodbye
But don’t you know it’s just a matter of time till the tears are gonna end
You’ll see them once again and in that moment

Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
That God is love and love has come for us all
Every heart set free, every one will see
That God is love and love has come for us all

Oh, and on that day we will stand amazed
At our Savior, God and King
Just to see the face of amazing grace
As our hearts rise up and sing

Glory, glory, hallelujah
Thank You for the cross
Singing glory, glory, hallelujah
Christ has paid the cost

Glory, glory, hallelujah
Thank You for the cross
Singing glory, glory
Christ has paid the cost

And every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
That God is love and love has come for us all
Every heart set free, every one will see
That God is love and love has come for us all

Love has come for us all
Love has come for us all

And every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
God is love and love has come for us all
Every heart set free, every one will see
God is love and love has come for us all

Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
God is love and love has come for us all
Every heart set free, every one will see
God is love and love has come for us all

No Sonia, not that one, but those lyrics are pretty straightforward aren’t they? I think there are more songs than we realize.

There are a lot! I’ll take notes next week so I can remember.

Sonia

How about this one?

Now is the time to worship

Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come

One day every tongue will confess You are God
One day every knee will bow
Still, the greatest treasure remains for those
Who gladly choose You now

Yea AllanS, you nailed the song I was thinking of! And oh how I was trying to recall it too! This is the one, Sonia!

I know this is an odd question to ask…But how exactly does one worship?

I’m not a “Mary had a little lamb” Christian when it comes to alot of the academic stuff, like theology, or in life-application of verses, which…I suppose is really just the applied continuation of the academic stuff. But when it comes to expressing “worship” I can’t seem to really “get it”, atleast when it comes to what I think of worship, all the singing, dancing, arm waving, eye-closed stuff, shouting amen, praise the Lord, etc. Not that I don’t love him of course, I very much do! I just have a hard time not being…uh…“puritan”?

I’m a very happy, and expressive person, artistic, and talkative, and even singing occasionally - except when it comes to worship, and that bothers me a little. Even at a youthful pentecostal church I used to attend I wasn’t all that into clapping, dancing, and jumping, or running…I felt really awkward…Went to my grandparents Church of Christ (no musical instruments) for a week - spiritually bored to death, and I still felt awkward, especially because I didn’t like the denomination at all. And then went regularly to a Baptist church for a while. I would sing, but I felt supremely fake doing so. It just wasn’t “enough” so to speak, then again I didn’t feel very welcome either. I didn’t go to church all that much as a kid, but I studied Christianity from a very academic point of view - it wasn’t until recently (the past four or five years) that I really got into a deep personal relationship, beyond the realm of what was more or less just Theology.

But in light of this, I don’t really know how to “worship”, I can pray - but I find myself kind of drab and stiff when it comes to certain things. Lately my prayers have been;

“God I want to learn how to have fun with you! I want to be childlike again, where everything was both learning, as well as play!”

“I want to stop the religious, the theological, the separation of sacred from secular, I want to live in to be a real Christian where you are more than just my prayer life, or studies, and where my relationship with you is not just religion with the relationship spliced in.”

“I’m so tired of theology, my facebook page is nothing but theological posts, and I feel like I have such little variety that I am boring even, and have no actual life beyond trying to “learn how to live”.”

“I don’t want to make religion everything about my life, but I also don’t want to make everything about my life “religious”. I want to be genuinely spiritual!”

And…pardon this next one…but I did actually pray this…But I think God might have gotten a giggle out of it…lol

“Father! If I fart I want it to be spiritual!”

But I suppose what I’m trying to say is, even as a Universalist, I find it difficult to worship God in a childlike way, or expressively. Anyone have any advice? And has anyone had this kind of experience? Or is it just me? :stuck_out_tongue: lol

Lefein,

I sure appreciate your honesty. I have felt this too. I started to think God cares more about how we treat others than whether we have the right view.

I’m no expert at worship, but I sure do like the way you talk honestly to God. I’m sure this is so wrong, but I can remember when I was younger feeling very comfortable with God and calling him dude. :blush: (w/no disrespect for him, of course! Hard to imagine now.)

I think talking to God is a form of worship. It’s really just what is in your heart, I think. I wouldn’t know what to recommend that you would enjoy singing more. I enjoy being reminded of God’s promises and when I can sing them it’s encouraging to me. Lately, I’ve been more convicted than anything. And it was just a few weeks ago I had to leave because the words made me cry. I wanted to sing them and I couldn’t. It is nice to be able to declare God as wonderful in song, but maybe other people benefit from doing this in others way, such as yourself? I know my husband has a particulary hard time worshipping in song because he has such a melodic ear that everything he hears he critiques and most of it he says is terribly written.

I’m sure we all would benefit, not just in our singing, from being real, childlike, getting away from the memorized stuff, and seeing things fresh.

Leifen, this is the reason I started this post.

I think I experience real worship when I am on the river trout fishing or walking though the woods, or sitting on the beach at sunset. In the stillness of this I remove all the stuff that I’ve allowed to get between me and God. I can see and hear him more clearly. Sometimes I do sing songs when I’m out there, sometimes Bible verses come to mind, sometimes I talk, sometimes I listen. Some of the best times I’ve had with God was when I was sitting by myself smoking my pipe. :blush: I am told constantly that I need to worship corporately and I do but I too sometimes feel like a fake. I sing and lead worship, but too often it seems like I am performing. True worship is never at a particular place (see John 4) and I don’t think there is a particular method. It is always in Spirit and in Truth. What ever that means? and it always gives me peace and left feeling loved.

These are encouraging replies. :slight_smile:

Nimblewill: I too found, that in my prayer life when I’d discuss some of the “normal” things with him, rather than try to have philosophical, and theological discussions…I felt a whole lot happier about it, and prayed more effectively. Lol, I suppose that’s God’s way of saying; “I know you don’t want to talk about religion, so I’m not going to empower you to try and appease me that way - talk about the stuff that is important to you, it is important to me too.”

Amy:

Yes! But how to do that…lol, how to teach it even lol. Maybe this whole idea is what God means by “born again from above”…

We sang this hymn tonight at church:

The Love of God
(btw, they leave out the 2nd verse in this video, but I’ve included it below)

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Refrain

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain

There’s just so much more to rejoice about when you know God is reconciling everything He created, rather than just a small group.

See also the thread “a universalist theology of worship” under Gregory’s Corner. Robin started that one off by pointing out the wonderful universalist theology of Matt Redman’s song “There is a louder shout to come” - even though young Matthew is not a universalist as far as we know!! We’ll be singing that one in our evening service at St George’s Barcelona tonight.

Here’s another we frequently sing at church: youtube.com/watch?v=W2D0g4Kizto

Hillsong – This is Our God

Your grace is enough
More than I need
And your word I will believe
I wait for you
Draw near again
And your spirit make me new
And i will fall at your feet
I will fall at your feet
And i will worship you here

Your presence in me
Jesus light the way
By the power of your word
I am restored
I am redeemed
By your spirit i am free
And i will fall at your feet
I will fall at your feet
And i will worship you here

Freely you gave it all for us
Surrendered your life upon that cross
Great is your love
Poured out for all
This is our God

Lifted on high from death to life
Forever our God is glorified
Sovereign king
Rescued the world
This is our God

And i will fall at your feet
I will fall at your feet
And i will worship you here

And i will fall at your feet
I will fall at your feet
And i will worship you here

Freely you gave it all for us
Surrendered your life upon that cross
Great is your love
Poured out for all
This is our God

Lifted on high from death to life
Forever out God is glorified
Sovereign king
Rescued the world
This is our God

this reminds me of a genius Simpsons quote:

“Reverend Lovejoy: Uh, this is very sad news, and it never would have happened
if the wedding had been inside the church with God instead
of out here in the cheap showiness of nature.”

lol

i find most songs these days appear to be Universalist in scope, though the people singing don’t seem to notice.
personally i have a HUGE problem with “worship music”. it really puts me off. i can feel the attempts of the composers to manipulate my emotions into a state i recognise personally as false: a feeling that mimics a Spiritual experience but is really just “warm and fuzzy”.

however, i’ve gotten over this a bit lately, and have been able to focus more on the lyrics. i’ve been lucky to go to churches where you get the odd Hillsong or Deleriou5? song, which IMO is awful LOL (though i do like that Mighty to Save), but they also write some of their own.

i prefer the old hymns…i find the lyrics generally deeper and more full of thought and poetry. this is simply my feeling…but there are loads of “Jesus is my friend and it’s all sappy and lovey dovey blah blah” songs, but i’ve been lucky to mostly avoid those: mostly.
also some hymns have unintended childish humour… it’s worse when the vicar gets the joke too and is also trying not to laugh. but i won’t get into that :blush:

for me, the ideal worship expression is meditation…and i can do that wherever, whether travelling with my CD player blasting black metal, or if tending to my pets, or writing, or playing guitar, or even just talking with people about how great my God is. but the real focused stuff…for me, it’s found in reflection…and often nature plays a big part in that.

hmm i wonder if with all these strange tangents i’ve managed to stay on topic at all…

When it comes right down to it, I think true worship is to do the will of God – whatever that may be for you at the time. “Present your body a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Without that, everything else is just talk or fuzzy feel-good stuff. :sunglasses:

Sonia

Hi Lefein, i can identify with this! it’s really hard to worship in Spirit and in Truth…and worship being an act of love, sometimes it’s hard to understand how to express or articulate it. but God knows your heart…
i suggest just starting with brief bits of worship, telling Him you love Him and reminding yourself how great He is. the odd bouquet of flowers won’t go amiss either :laughing:
i’ve decided “musical worship” just isn’t for me…it’s largely because i’m a musician, and i analyse EVERYTHING about music, and also feel like i’m not singing well enough etc… and none of that is helpful to worshiping. so i do try, and sometimes i manage for a second or two to touch God but really my best worship is reflective. so if i am not trying to show people that i’m “joining in” and just think about the lyrics, or some Scripture, or make up my own thing in my head…that seems to work better.

hope some of that helps…but i don’t fear for you…your desire to be all worshipful and loving with God proves that you already are! even the thing that drives you into theological study is that love…i think that’s pretty clear to anyone reading your post.
so keep worshiping and don’t feel discouraged! God has you where He wants you!